The beat is back

After "surgery,' giant heart exhibit at Franklin Institute is better than ever

October 05, 2004|By Wendy Solomon Of The Morning Call

The Giant Heart. Say it and millions will remember at least one childhood visit through the cavernous replica of a beating human heart at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute.

An icon of the venerable science museum and city since the exhibit opened in 1954, the giant walk-through heart and surrounding new exhibit re-opened Friday after a six-month, $2.5 million renovation.

The surgery was a rousing success. "The Giant Heart: A Healthy Interactive Experience" is better than ever. The centerpiece, a fiberglass heart large enough to fit a person the size of the Statue of Liberty, is brighter and more informative with well-marked signs (example: You are in the left ventricle). Dozens of new displays beckon visitors to come up and play in a hall that is almost twice as large as the previous space.

The human body and its heart, you will learn in this clever, smart funhouse, are rather incredible, intricate machines.

"Lungs! Lungs!" a boy shouts and points to his friend, who is frantically playing a game where he must keep up with a path of lights representing blood flow from the heart.

The exhibit's main storyline is the healthy heart, which is explained through displays in four areas of the hall, each with a separate, yet linked theme: blood, heart anatomy and physiology, health and wellness, and diagnosis and treatment. Even if that eludes most visitors, the exhibit is still effective.

"It's so relevant because everyone knows someone who's had a heart problem," said Dennis Wint, president and chief executive officer of the Franklin Institute.

The country recently got acquainted with heart disease and quadruple bypass surgery when former President Bill Clinton went under the knife. Clinton, as it turns out, has visited the Franklin Institute's giant heart.

Last updated in 1979, the exhibit incorporates the latest scientific and medical information, particularly in the area of diagnosis and treatment. The exhibit focuses on why and how a healthy heart works, said Steve Snyder, vice president of exhibit and program development.

"People want to know why something is good or bad for you, but they don't want you to preach to them," Snyder said.

The aim was to create a learning environment that was more experience-oriented, Wint said.

At the recent press preview, the adults were as engaged as the visiting fourth-graders from Friends Select School in Philadelphia. One woman stepped on a scale and stared in amazement at the amount of fake blood -- in proportion to her weight -- that gushed out of a spigot. But that was not before she removed her pocketbook to lighten the load. Others stared in amazement at the "heart spiral," a moving, rotating sculpture mounted with animal heart models, from the smallest, a canary's, to the largest, a beaked whale.

As children crawled through 8-foot-long models of clogged arteries, others pressed buttons on the Snack-o-rama machine and learned how surprisingly bad, or good, some of their favorite after-school snack foods were. An Arnold Schwarzenegger-like voice told them, "Hey, yogurt. That's some good stuff."

The piece-de-resistance was the giant heart, where three boys playfully raced each other through the giant organ, effortlessly navigating past protruding alveoli. The narrow stairwell can be a challenge, because some children come away thinking hearts have little steps inside them, according to lead exhibit designer Laura Selicaro. Visitors who cannot climb steps can view the interior on a three-dimensional screen.

The heart used to be a scary place for some kids, with all those dark, twisting corridors reverberating with the steady lubb-dubb rhythm.

"This one is a lot more open and bright, so it's not as scary," said Isabella LiPuma, 9, who took a minute to wave to a friend through the septum.

The exhibit captivated LiPuma and a friend, who leaned over a mannequin "patient" and watched a video of open-heart surgery roughly where his heart would be. It so happened the doctor who performed the surgery and helped design the display, Dr. Louis Samuels of Lankenau Hospital, was standing next to them and they peppered him with questions.

It is those kinds of moments that Selicaro hopes will teach and inspire, perhaps influencing someone to become a doctor or heart surgeon. Only time will tell.

A man who worked on the displays turned to another man and said, "Do you have a cigarette?"